


Masked

by Rainbow_Femme



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Childhood, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Masquerade Ball, everybody lives au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14261184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_Femme/pseuds/Rainbow_Femme
Summary: Damen and Laurent have known one another since they were children, betrothed to set an alliance between their countries. But that doesn't mean they have to like each other. Until they meet as "strangers" and have the chance to start again.





	Masked

When Laurent was 7, his older brother took him from his room and his books and lead him to their father's chambers. As they stood before the great king, Laurent tried to partially hide himself behind his brother. The few times he had come directly to his father's chambers were times his father had wished to punish him away from the prying eyes of the court, keeping up the pretense that the princes were beyond reproach by anyone. But Auguste was smiling this time, and he would not be smiling if Laurent was going to be yelled at again. Plus, he couldn't remember doing anything recently that would get him yelled at. Nothing they knew about, anyway.

"Laurent," his father began, extending a hand to his son, who cautiously took it and was pulled onto his father's knee. As rarely as he was chided was he shown affection. His father was not a cruel man, but he did not believe in coddling those who would one day rule. A good king could not be soft, thinking the world was all kindness.

"Yes, father?" Laurent could not remember a time he had sat on his father's knee. He had often sat on the lap of August, who sat beside their father. But never something like this.

"I have received a message from the king of Akielos. He has a son, a few years older than you, and he wishes for you and his son to be married."

At this Laurent could only stare. He had never imagined being married, that was for people much older than himself. Would it have to be soon? Would he have to leave behind his room, his books, his brother?

Auguste, seeming to recognize his brother's fear, came and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"It will not be for a long time, Laurent. Not until you are older than myself."

"But," their father chimed in, "You will be spending time together for a few months each year over the next few years so that you might get to know one another's kingdoms. He shall arrive soon, and stay for the summer. It is important for the two of you to get to know one another very well."

Laurent nodded and raised his chin, putting on a brave face like his brother. He would have to marry this boy one day, so they should be the best of friends.

-

Laurent shrieked and ran down the grand halls of the palace, 10 year old Damen chasing after him, soaked to the bone from the bucket of water Laurent had dumped on him from the balcony.

To be fair, Laurent would not have had to soak him if Damianos hadn't "accidentally" dumped his cup of water on Laurent's breakfast. To be fair, he had done that because Laurent had dumped ink in Damianos' evening soup and dyed his teeth black. But to be fair...

He slid to a halt and ducked into a closet, watching as the very large Damianos ran past, yelling for him to show himself. Laurent wasn't sure what it was about the two of them but they had connected like oil and water from first sight and things had gone downhill from there with the two doing nothing but antagonizing one another from that first night. He couldn't remember who had thrown the first punch, but both were determined to finish it. Damianos had even been moved to a separate wing of the hall because no one could trust the two with each other's sleeping bodies.

As Laurent hid he knew he should, as a prince, be thinking of apologizing and mending the relationship as Auguste and his father continued to tell him, horrified at his unprincely behavior. But instead he began thinking of how to retaliate from whatever it was Damianos was cooking up for him.

-

Damianos was 13 and Laurent was 10, and he couldn't stand the kid. Always whining, whining about the heat, whining about the strange clothes, whining about Akielos being less sophisticated than Vere.  _I didn't invite you, go home if you don't like it._

He knew he should be nicer to the younger boy and really he was  _trying_. But no matter what olive branch he extended to Laurent he said some snide comment back and soon they'd be on the ground wrestling with his father laughing and the Veretian ambassador/baby sitter fretting and begging the two of them to stop pulling hair and scratching faces.

What really made him mad was how pretentious the Veretian prince was. He thought he was so much better than Damianos, so much smarter, so much more  _refined_. _Give me a break, my brother has told me what happens in those Veretian back rooms with your pets._ Laurent probably wanted him to be like one of those pets, agreeing with him on everything.  _Yes of course I'm an idiot, yes of course my kingdom is dirty and unrefined, yes of course prince Laurent you are better than me in every way._

Screw that. He dug his fist into Laurent's scalp and rubbed it in as the runt scratched welts down his arm. They were struggling on the floor of the baths and he could hear the ambassador running in and begging them to stop, no one was on the other's side of the bath, there was no reason to fight.

-

At 13, Damianos and Laurent were done pranking one another and were instead ignoring each other at all cost.

Laurent hid in the library or his rooms or the stables, Damianos was always among the soldiers and the guards, laughing with them and getting pointers. He had grown into a strapping 16 year old and he had no interest in wasting time with an awkward 13 year old boy just beginning puberty.

Part of Laurent wanted to go back to pranking him, wanted to get that attention back just to say _p_ _ay attention to me, you asshole. You're in my house and you're going to ignore me all summer?_

His father had begged him to make things different this summer. He was no longer a child but a teenager, it was not fitting for a teenage prince to be sulking and avoiding his betrothed, even if they did not get along. But the more time went on the more Laurent thought his initial assessment was wrong. They were not oil and water but oil and fire, making one another worse when they came together explosively.

Laurent heard Damianos' booming laughter from the courtyard and pushed his nose deeper into his book.

Asshole.

-

Damianos was now 19 and he did feel a little bad about how he treated Laurent in the past. And, let's be honest, how he treated him in the present. But gods if the kid didn't just  _piss him off._

He was  _trying_ to be nice, he was  _trying_ to be friendly. It wasn't his fault that Laurent took everything from him as pity. However, if he was honest, it did come from a place of pity. The boy was 16 and seemed to have very few friends outside of his older brother. Damianos had been beside Nikandros since they were children and it was clear that Laurent had very little experience with interacting with others.

But it wasn't his fault. He tried to invite him along when he went on his hunting parties or practiced fencing with his friends. But Laurent just turned a brilliant shade of furious red and stormed away, saying he couldn't imagine a worse way to spend his time.

This time he had tried to offer Laurent a chance to wrestle with them and once again he had rolled his eyes and glared before stomping off as his answer.

Whatever. It would be more fun without him anyway.

-

Laurent was now 19 and his marriage was coming fast. The thought made his stomach roll as he imagined having to spend the rest of his life with Damianos, not just a few agonizing months of the year.

Tonight was the last day of summer, of the last summer they would spend together before being married. His father wished to celebrate it and was holding a grand masquerade ball, a cheeky joke at the blind arranging of his younger son's marriage. Laurent didn't find it all that funny.

He sighed and adjusted his masquerade clothes. Veretian blue and gold, laced to the wrists. Damianos would be seeing him for the last time tonight before their marriage and he was not going to budge an inch. Every time Damianos looked at him he would see a Veretian through and through, not a single part of him would look Akielon. He would be a Veretian prince forever, not an Akielon.

Finally he affixed the blue and gold mask to his face. He could avoid it no longer, there was a line between fashionably late and rudely late and he was straddling that line very finely.

Walking into the grand hall, he spotted his brother mouthing "Be nice." He gave a wave of acknowledgement that didn't commit to anything.

Stopping at the edge of the dance floor, he watched the other dancers twirling around the floor. He knew what they did when they were bearing their faces, he shuddered at what they would all be doing tonight when they felt their identities were hidden. Not that they were all that hidden, the area around the eyes was not that important to hiding one's self when everything else is still visible.

"May I have this dance?"

Laurent jumped then and turned to see none other than Damianos standing beside him, clearly uncomfortable in his tight fitting Veretian clothing. Laurent assumed he had continued to grow after the Veretian seamstress got his measurements.

He raised an eyebrow. "You are dumber than even I expected if you can't recognize me."

"It's not my fault you all look alike over here." Damianos sighed, his usual vitriol not there. "Can't we just for one night be nice to each other? Can't we be two different people meeting one another for the first time, without all this bad blood between us?"

Laurent felt his eyes widen in surprise. This was the last thing he had expected. 

"Alright," he said finally, cautious but offering his hand and allowing himself to be lead onto the dance floor.

As they moved around the room, they both remained stiff in the other's arms.

"I apologize," Damianos broke their silence. "I have not introduced myself. You may call me Damen."

Laurent laughed at this. He could not think of any special nickname for himself.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Damen." He nodded his head in replacement of a bow. Damen smiled and nodded back.

"Will the mysterious noble tell me about himself?"

Laurent cocked his head to the side, curious as to why Damianos was so invested in this game.

"I am the youngest prince of a king. I am betrothed to a boorish prince who I have nothing in common with and who only pretends to want to be around me when he's inviting me along to things he knows I would never want to do." He paused a moment, not sure where all of that came from. Now that it was finally out, it did not make him feel any better. "I am also a bit bitter, and not too nice."

Forcing himself to look into Damen's eyes, he found them sad and remorseful.

"That sounds horrible. I am very sorry, he does sound like a complete ass." He lowered his eyes. "I am sure he did not think of it that way. Perhaps he just didn't know what else to do to make you feel included."

Laurent lowered his eyes as well. He had never considered that it had come from a place of actual kindness. He had seen all those older, grinning Akielon boys and just assumed they were there to laugh at him all day. He hadn't considered that Damen wanted to share his hobbies and his friends with the friendless prince.

"Well, it's possible I can be... Judgmental. And slow to trust others."

"And I'm sure I am not very approachable to anyone who is not exactly like myself."

They were looking at one another now and Laurent felt as if it was for the very first time. This man, who had been like an enemy, a vicious older brother, a nuisance, was not nearly as malicious as Laurent thought. When was the last time he had genuinely said something rude to Laurent? He could not remember, he had assumed the last few years had been veiled insults when really they were attempts at camaraderie.

Besides his brother, who else had been there with him his entire life? No one else had ever treated him like an equal, treated him like a normal boy rather than a prince. Had it all been so bad? That day they snuck away to swim in the pond to cool off, the day they stole a basket full of desserts from the kitchen and ate them all in secret, the night they both found themselves in the large gardens to watch the meteor shower the Akielon astronomer had foretold? Sitting together, the night so dark they could hardly see one another, they had sat on the sloping hill, far enough to not be considered sitting together, and silently watched the very stars fall from the heavens above them.

No, there was more good than he had thought. He'd just been ignoring it all as flukes rather than accepting that they were the only ones they knew who could understand the other's life, the only one who could understand being in an arranged marriage to a foreign prince, being shipped off every other summer to a foreign palace to feel like a complete outcast.

Laurent softened a bit in Damen's arms as the dance blended into the next.

"I'm sure we could both stand to be kinder to our betrothed."

Damen's arm softened against his back, his hold gentle but firm, secure.

"I'm sure that's what they deserve. Even if we don't."

He grinned and Laurent smiled back, tentative. 

Across the room he could see his brother and their father's whispering furtively, confusion painted on their faces along with just a little bit of hope.

Laurent lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Don't look but we are being watched."

Damen grinned. "Are you suggesting we escape from those prying eyes?"

"I am now."

Damen winked and lead them into the throng of dancing bodies, allowing them to be lost before leading him out a back door of the room and down a hidden servant's passage.

"I keep forgetting how well you know this place too."

Damen grinned at this and kept leading him, though Laurent needed no leading, he had taken these passages many times when avoiding parties. Often because of Damen, funny enough.

And now they were out on a lower roof where he knew the servants liked to go to eat their meals to avoid the heat of the kitchens. He had not known the moon was so big tonight, so bright. The harvest moon was sooner than he expected and it seemed to heighten the stars around it.

Damen seemed to notice it too. "Are the stars always so bright?"

Laurent gazed up at them, a melancholy taking hold. "It's how I feel, with my brother." He didn't know what was making him spill so much of himself tonight but now that it had started he couldn't make it stop. "He's so brilliant I feel like I can be when I'm beside him. But when I'm alone, I just fade away into nothing. I'm afraid of what will happen when we're apart fully, that I don't know who I am when I'm not Auguste's younger brother."

Damen touched the back of his hand against the back of Laurent's. It was not a hug, it was not a hand hold. But it was reassurance that he was there.

"I've never thought that, you know. About you." Damen laughed softly. "Believe me, you have always been  _very_ bright and  _very_ noticeable as long as I've known you. You are impossible to ignore, from someone who has tried."

Laurent found himself laughing too, when he had moments ago felt like crying. It was reassuring, to know that he had never faded into the background for Damen. His husband would not forget him.

"Should we go back before we are missed?"

Laurent shook his head, pushing his hand back against Damen's hand. Not holding it, but reciprocating. The ice between them had thawed and from underneath, impossibly, something was beginning to glow beneath the glow of their first autumn moon together.


End file.
